Eat from the Pantry Update & Menu Plan Monday

Earlier this week, I posted that we were taking part in the Eat From the Pantry Challenge. So far, I’m really enjoying doing this. I had a pretty well stocked pantry as you can see in the above picture; so I believe I’ll be able to make it through the month.

Unfortunately, I’ve got A LOT of potatoes! As my Dad would say, “They need eat, so get to eatin’!” So that is what we will do, as you’ll see in my Menu Plan for this coming week. However, before I tell you what’s on the menu for this week, let’s take a look at last week. For time’s sake, we’ll only look at our dinners, as our breakfasts and lunches will look very similar this week.

Monday: I had a Creamy Chicken w/ Mushrooms frozen in the freezer. I tossed it in the crockpot with a little kefir (didn’t have sour cream), and  I served it over Wacky Mac Pasta Noodles. We did NOT like frozen mushrooms thawed and cooked. I will never do that again, but overall, the meal was delicious and bearable. I also used up the Martha White cornbread mix I had in the back of the pantry.

Tuesday: We celebrated my new job and just our excitement for life at Baker Peters! It was a blast. I had free range lamb chops and they were amazing!

Wednesday: I threw together Taco Soup. However, I did not have any corn, so really it just tasted like chili w/ a Taco Seasoning packet thrown in. 🙂 We had homemade corn muffins this time and a fresh salad. I made the dressing for the salad from mashed garlic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. It was yummy!

Thursday: We had Sausage Casserole. This, also, fed us 3 more times the remainder of the week. I love those kinds of meals!

Friday: We had another Date Night at Outback. Mark had a free Bloomin’ Onion card, and we also received a gift card from a friend as a Christmas gift. Therefore, it was a cheap night out. 🙂

This week there will be more outings, so again, there won’t be a lot of cooking dinner-wise. However, the challenge comes with breakfast and lunch. I’m trying to not make a single trip to the grocery store this week. I think we have enough fruit, carrots, and celery to make do. We’ll see!

Here is our plan for this week!

Breakfasts:

•    Blueberry Waffles w/ (fake, ugh!) Maple Syrup & crushed walnuts, fresh tangerines x 2
•    Oatmeal w/ fresh blackberries
•    Oatmeal w/ almonds & toast w/ coconut oil
•    Scrambled eggs in coconut oil, tangerines x 2

Lunches:

•    Almond Butter & Jelly on sprouted bread, Soup, fresh yellow & orange peppers x 2
•    Chicken slices (free of nitrates & nitrites) on sprouted bread w/ carrots/celery x 2
•    Leftovers

Dinners:

•    Monday: Date Night w/ friends
•    Tuesday: Dinner at friends house
•    Wednesday: Broccoli Soup w/ cornbread muffins
•    Thursday: Creole Chicken (from freezer) w/ green beans & mashed potatoes
•    Friday: Pork Chops w/ Apples, mashed potatoes, and green peas
•    Saturday: Date Night – dinner out w/ Gift Cards
•    Sunday: Poppy Seed Chicken w/ green beans and sweet potatoes

Snacks:

•    Hummus w/ crackers/celery/carrots
•    Nuts: Almonds, sunflower seeds
•    Apples
•    Homemade Granola Bars – I used the recipe from here. I used some chocolate chips that we had left over from baking as well as flaxseed in mine. I also didn’t have vanilla extract; therefore, I substituted (real) maple syrup. The recipe is a little bit drier than I prefer, but it’s still really good. This was my first time to make homemade granola bars, and I was really pleased with the turnout.